July 6, 2020

It’s great to be back in business! That’s the verdict of bosses at Clacton Pier after their first weekend in operation for more than three months.

People turned up in their thousands to enjoy the iconic attraction which has been closed for its longest period since the Second World War.

A dull day on Saturday kept numbers down but that allowed staff to test out the new measures put in place to combat Coronavirus.

And as things got much busier on a sunny Sunday staff continued to take details at the entrance to enable the track and trace of visitors if necessary.

Pier Director Billy Ball was delighted with the outcome and said that all the preparations had been worthwhile.

“We achieved the prestigious ‘Good To Go’ status and did everything we could to ensure that customers and staff were as safe as possible,” he said.

“It has been a lot of hard work to get all measures in place, but people responded well, followed the guidelines and used the sanitization equipment that we provided around the landmark.

“We were very encouraged and are now confident that we can run a business in this tricky situation without compromising people’s health and safety – provided they stick to the rules.”

A major part of the Pier was open to the public, excluding the soft play and bowling.

“After months of almost silence on the site it was fantastic to have our attractions working again and families having a great time,” added Mr Ball.

“There were lots of happy smiling faces and that is what we want to see. It was great to be back and to be able to welcome people of all ages to Clacton Pier.

“We hope that things will continue in this way and that we do not have to go back into lockdown at some future point. But that is in everyone’s hands and we all need to play our part to ensure that does not happen.”

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